Queer Beats – February 22, 2019

Welcome back to Queer Beats, your weekly one-stop shop for queer television news! This week, there were lots of fun convention announcements but, more importantly, we need to #RenewODAAT and #FightForWynonna!

I’m still getting used to the fact that any news about this show is automatically queer news because the lead is a queer person (can you believe?!). This week, we found out that Dougray Scott will play Kate Kane’s father and the new director for the pilot will be Marcos Siega (David Nutter dropped out for personal reasons).

We got lots of exciting new Clexacon announcement this week, including this shocking addition of Amber Benson (Tara) from BTVS! I never even thought about Buffy actresses coming to a current queer convention, so this is very exciting!

She had us under her spell as one half of TV's first long term lesbian relationship and slayed all day as Tara Maclay on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She's ready to work her magic at #ClexaCon2019 so join us in welcoming @amber_benson!!! pic.twitter.com/cFtKAdUi2J

Is there such a thing as convention season? If not, it certainly feels like it with all the announcements this week! The first CarmillaCon announced major guests: Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis!

WHAT’S THIS YOU SAY? A CARMILLA…CONVENTION? 👀 👀 ’Twill be so delightful to catch up with some of my cast mates (more guest announcements will be rolling out!) in October and celebrate this little webseries that could with you all! https://t.co/3HlZmZtI1o

It’s true! Excited to not only celebrate #HOLLSTEIN but ALL THINGS CARMILLA. What a great way to honour the ensemble of talented LGBTQ+ people and allies (on both sides of the camera) who made @carmillaseries so special. Can’t wait to reunite with some of them and to meet YOU! 🧛🏼‍♀️ https://t.co/JFBK2ze58l

I still haven’t gotten the courage to watch HoHH but, as always, everyone’s favorite queer couple (Theo and Trish) has made it very tempting. Netflix announced that there will be a second season of this anthology show but, sadly, none of the original cast will be returning. Let’s hope they add some new queers!

We are inching closer to the premiere of the final season of JtV. The show has given us so many good, gay moments so I loved when Bridget Regan posted this photo of all our favorite queer women in one place!

Also, it’s no secret that I love Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill fan for life, suckers) so imagine my excitement when I found out that she will be a guest on the show! I know the chances are extremely small that she would be playing a queer character but a girl can dream!

Woo, more L Word news! This week, The Hollywood Reporter released a new interview with Marja Lewis-Ryan, the showrunner for the reboot. She promised that the new show will be “a little browner and a little less cis” which is music to my ears.

Uhh excuse me while I faint over this cover. And the photographs inside. Please just do yourself a favor and read their interview about the newest season of Killing Eve. Or go out and buy yourself a copy. Or 80.

My favorite ODAAT teens are here to talk about acceptance and family for the It Gets Better campaign! I just wanna squeeze them!

Meanwhile, if you love joy and happiness, please go and tweet #RenewODAAT because I don’t think I could go on without this show. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I have never felt more represented by a character than I have by Elena Alvarez. Not only does her family look a lot like mine, but this show even gives us queer fandom rep. What’s not to love?

Sigh. I really wish I didn’t have to report on this one. Some scary news this week: the future of Wynonna Earp is in jeopardy. Recent news about the major losses of IDW Publishing means that the funding for Season 4 of Wynonna Earp is not as secure, despite the fact that, yes, the show was already picked up for another season. The fandom has launched a new campaign to show SyFy just how much the show means to us. The cast has been tweeting as well:

Dana Piccoli, the fandom’s Fairy Gaymother, joined in with a long thread about what the show has done for queer fandom:

Dear @SYFY & @IDWPublishing@IDWEntertain, you may or may not know me, but the kids call me Fairy Gaymother. Right now, they are genuinely upset, and I hate to see that. It appears that the future of #WynonnaEarp is in question? So let's talk.

I know the strength of the WE fandom and I truly believe that we will be able to fight for the show. But between this and trying to save ODAAT this week, it gets exhausting to always have to fight for good queer representation. I hope we get good news on both shows soon!

And that’s it for Queer Beats this week! Always thorough, always professional, never random.

About Nikki Tantum

Nikki has always known two contradictory things to be true: queer TV can save lives and queer female cop/agent characters will be the death of all of us (looking at you Officer Haught, Director Danvers, Detective Sawyer, and Sameen Shaw). Her first dive into fan content was when she ran a secret Xanga blog dedicated to pictures of Lorelai Gilmore in the 7th grade. She has never looked back.